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The team from Charity Navigator, the nation's largest independent charity evaluator and leading donor advocate, shares their thoughts on emerging nonprofit-sector issues and offers tips to better inform your intelligent giving decisions.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Everything You Need to Know About Using Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator has been America’s trusted guide to charitable giving for more than 16 years. Last year, more 11 million individuals used Charity Navigator to make data-driven giving decisions. And, the best part is, all of our resources are completely free and available any time, anywhere. We are committed to helping you make confident, impactful donations to charities doing great work.New to Charity Navigator? Here’s what you need to know...

Our RatingsWe offer data-based evaluations for more than 9,000 of the nation’s largest, most well-known charities. We use data from a charities’ Forms 990, the form they use to report their finances to the IRS, as well as information provided on their websites to complete our ratings.Our ratings are two-dimensional. They look at organizations’ financial health to understand how they’re using donor’s dollars to achieve their missions. And, they consider charities’ accountability and transparency practices to report on what information the organizations make publicly available to their constituents and supporters, as well as what practices they have in place to avoid misconduct.Charities’ ratings profiles also include basic information about the organizations like their addresses, mission statements, leadership, and, when available, impact reports made possible through a partnership with Classy, GuideStar, and GlobalGiving.Learn more about:

Our Tips and GuidesOur ratings are an excellent resource that many donors rely on to make confident, data-driven giving decisions. But, we know that charitable giving is multi-faceted, and sometimes you’re looking for answers or advice on how to get started, avoid scams, volunteer, or donate your car or vehicle. That’s why we offer a number of tips sheets and giving guides.Hover over “Tips for Donors” on our website to reveal a list of helpful articles that will answer any and all of your questions about how, or where, or what to give.Some of users' favorites include:

Our BlogYes, this blog! If you spend a little time digging around, you’ll realize it’s full of great content that builds on our ratings and tips for donors. Each week we publish a new Top 10 list of highly-rated charities working on a particular cause or issue, as well as a list of awesome charities at work in one of the 50 states, and a number of other good giving articles.Our Giving BasketFinally, our Giving Basket is a great way for you to take all of the information you’ve gathered and research you’ve conducted on Charity Navigator and turn it into action. Last year, nearly 85,000 used our Giving Basket to donate more than $23,500,000 to thousands of excellent charities.This platform allows you to make contributions to multiple organizations in one transaction. Plus, it offers a way for you to make your donations anonymously while receiving a tax receipt for your donations.You can learn more about using the Giving Basket and how to use it here.Got more questions about Charity Navigator?You can get in touch with our team by sending an email to info@charitynavigator.org.Written by Ashley Post, Communications Manager at Charity Navigator.